Variable gain amplifiers are commonly used in test instruments to re-size input signals of various amplitudes to properly match the range of subsequent circuitry. Such circuitry includes track-and-hold circuits, sampler-and-hold circuits, and analog-to-digital converters. Most variable gain amplifiers use lumped, as opposed to distributed, amplifier designs. A key limitation of a lumped amplifier is achievable bandwidth. This achievable bandwidth is typically limited to approximately fmax/6, wherein fmax is a maximum oscillation frequency of the underlying transistor technology. Distributed amplifiers may achieve a bandwidth of fmax/3. Various solutions that use distributed amplifiers in order to solve the bandwidth problem also use variable bias to achieve variable gain. However variable bias increases distortion as the bias is decreased. As such, the useful range of gain variation is limited because of the increased amount of distortion. There is a need for techniques that achieve a wide variable gain, high bandwidth, and low distortion.